Achievements of youth teams
2025 will mark a clear mark of Vietnamese youth football when teams from U17, U20, U22/U23 all achieve positive results in regional and continental tournaments. This is a rare time for young players to show stability in their strength, achievements and development roadmap at the same time.
The U17 Vietnam team qualified for the 2026 U17 Asian Cup finals with a perfect record in the qualifiers. The young generation of players showed their physical foundation, tactical discipline and the ability to organize their playing style as they approach the continental level.
With U20, Vietnam women's football continues to maintain its presence in the Asian playground when U20 women's team wins a ticket to the 2026 U20 Asian Cup Finals. In the regional tournaments, U19 women won the Southeast Asian silver medal, U16 women won the bronze medal, reflecting the continuous development of the girls' youth training system.
The most prominent is still the U22/U23 men's team. In 2025, the team went through 7 international training and competition sessions, won the Southeast Asian U23 Championship for the third consecutive time, passed the 2026 U23 Asian qualifiers with a perfect result and ended with the 33rd SEA Games gold medal right on Thailand's field. This series of results helps U22/U23 Vietnam continue to maintain the leading position in Southeast Asia.
Overall, the fact that many young teams have won tickets to the Asian finals at the same time and achieved high results in the region shows uniformity in training, instead of depending on a few individual generations.
Developing internal resources and long-term goals for Vietnamese football
From the above results, the problem of developing Vietnamese football continues to be raised with the goal of taking internal resources as the foundation. President of the Vietnam Football Federation Tran Quoc Tuan affirmed that the success of the youth teams is the result of a long-term investment strategy, not chasing short-term solutions.
Mr. Tran Quoc Tuan emphasized: "Compared to some countries in the region, Vietnamese football is steadfast in its youth training path, developing players from the U tournament system to professional football, while creating conditions for clubs to build a systematic training model. This is an important foundation if we want to aim for the 2030 World Cup and beyond".
According to Mr. Tran Quoc Tuan, the preparation process for youth teams has been implemented continuously for many years, especially increasing international competition so that players can quickly adapt to the high intensity. The fact that U17, U20 and U22/U23 all achieved good results in 2025 shows that the inheritance and connectivity between routes are being effective.
At the 33rd SEA Games, the victory of U22 Vietnam over Thailand in the final match was considered a clear demonstration of their competitive spirit. Mr. Tran Quoc Tuan commented: Being behind 0-2 in the final match, the possibility of a comeback is very low. But the team did not give up. The will, discipline and reasonable adjustments of the coaching staff have created a turning point".
From a strategic perspective, VFF identifies the current U22/U23 teams as the core force towards the national team in the 2030-2034 World Cup period. At the same time, the youth training system, domestic tournaments and coordination with clubs continue to be considered pillars.
The achievements of the youth men's/women's teams in 2025 not only have the meaning of results, but also reflect the effectiveness of the way of making football based on internal strength, proper training and investing in a roadmap.
This is considered an important foundation for Vietnamese football to maintain competitiveness in the region, gradually getting closer to the goals of the continent and the world.
